Conventionally, there have been various types of writing tools and makeup kits, and as an example thereof, a pen configured to be capable of applying an ink to an object or the like is known.
The pen of this type includes an ink reservoir configured to store the ink, a pen tip configured to apply the ink to an ink coating target, and an ink guide configured to guide the ink in the ink reservoir toward the pen tip.
The ink reservoir has a circumferential wall that defines an internal space containing the ink. There are various ink reservoirs, and examples thereof include an ink reservoir with an internal space filled with a liquid ink (see Patent Literature 1, for example), an ink reservoir with an internal space entirely filled with an ink absorbing member which has liquid absorbability and has absorbed an ink (see Patent Literature 2, for example), and an ink reservoir with a specific region of an internal space filled with a liquid ink and with the remaining region of the internal space filled with an ink absorbing member which has liquid absorbability and has absorbed an ink (see Patent Literature 3, for example).
Examples of the pen tip include a pen tip formed by bundling a large number of hair strands and a pen tip formed by molding a fiber material into a rod shape. The pen tip has a proximal end connected to an ink guide and a distal end located opposite to the proximal end and is configured to contact a coating target. The pen tip is configured to allow the ink from the ink guide to adhere thereon from the proximal end to the distal end by capillary force or surface tension.
The ink guide is generally called induction core or relay core and is molded into a rod shape. The ink guide has one end connected to the ink reservoir and the other end provided opposite to the one end and connected to the pen tip, and has a communication part configured to communicate the one end with the other end on at least one of the outer surface and inside thereof. Examples of the communication part include open cells, interconnected micropores, and microgrooves, and the ink guide guides the ink in the ink reservoir to the pen tip by capillary force of the communication part.
The pen of this type is configured so that, when the distal end of the pen tip contacts an ink coating target, the ink on the pen tip is transferred to the coating target, and the ink on the pen tip is consumed. Then, the ink in the ink guide is supplied to the pen tip by capillary force or surface tension of the pen tip. Accordingly, the ink in the ink reservoir is supplied to the ink guide by capillary force or surface tension of the ink guide.
Thus, the pen of this type is configured to be capable of continuously applying the ink to the ink coating target.